Year:
25 October 1968 (LP Jun 2014)Label:
Chrysalis Records (UK & Europe), 0825646307807Style:
Progressive Rock, Folk Rock, Blues RockCountry:
Blackpool, Lancashire, EnglandTime:
38:10Format:
Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHzSize:
256 MbCharts: UK #10, GER #28, US #62.
On
October 25, 1968, Jethro Tull's first album, "This Was" was released, a
breath of fresh air in the static world of British Blues. Despite the
positive reviews and various appreciations, Ian Anderson "veers" 180°,
and shortly thereafter will revolutionize the "sound" of Jethro Tull.
Not only "blues", but many musical ingredients and styles amalgamated
together by the sound of the flute, which will become "Jethro Tull
Style", forcing Mick Abrahams to play blues in some London pub.
This
Was is the debut studio album by the British progressive rock band
Jethro Tull, released in 1968. Recorded at a cost of ?1200, it is the
only Jethro Tull album with guitarist Mick Abrahams, who was a major
influence for the sound and music style of the band's first songs. When
the album was released the band was already performing at the Marquee
Club in London, where other successful British groups, such as the
Rolling Stones and The Who, had started their careers. This Was was
recorded between 13 June 1968 and 23 August 1968 at Sound Techniques,
Chelsea, London and was released on 4 October 1968 (UK) and 3 February
1969 (US) on the Island label.
Music: While vocalist Ian Anderson's
creative vision largely shaped Jethro Tull's later albums, on This Was
Anderson shared songwriting duties with Tull's guitarist Mick Abrahams.
In part due to Abrahams' influence, the album incorporates more rhythm
and blues and jazz influences than the progressive rock the band later
became known for. In particular: The music to "My Sunday Feeling", "Some
Day the Sun Won't Shine for You", "Beggar's Farm" and "It's Breaking Me
Up" are based on blues progressions, with "Some Day the Sun Won't Shine
for You" arranged similarly to Big Bill Broonzy's blues standard "Key
to the Highway". "Cat's Squirrel" (included in the album "because people
like it", according to the liner notes) was written by Doctor Ross and
covered as an instrumental by numerous 1960s British blues bands,
including the supergroup Cream. Abrahams would later perform the song in
his post-Jethro Tull blues band Blodwyn Pig. The album includes a cover
version of Roland Kirk's jazz standard "Serenade to a Cuckoo".
According to the liner notes, "Cuckoo" was one of the first tunes Ian
Anderson learned to play on the flute. The coda of "My Sunday Feeling"
incorporates quotes from two well-known jazz tunes, Henry Mancini's
"Pink Panther Theme" (specifically the song's bass line, played as a
short solo by Glenn Cornick) and Nat Adderley's and Oscar Brown, Jr.'s
"Work Song". This Was also contains the only Jethro Tull lead vocal not
performed by Ian Anderson on a studio album, in "Move on Alone". Mick
Abrahams, the song's author, provided vocals on the track; Dee Palmer
provided the horn arrangement. Abrahams left Jethro Tull following the
album's completion in a dispute over "musical differences". Thus, the
album's title probably refers to Abrahams' blues influence on the album
and how blues weren't the direction Anderson wanted the band to go. As
said in the liner notes of the original record, "This was how we were
playing then - but things change - don't they?" The song "Dharma for
One", a staple of Tull's early concerts (usually incorporating an
extended drum solo by Clive Bunker), was later covered by Ekseption,
Pesky Gee! and The Ides of March.
This song featured the "claghorn", a
hybrid instrument invented by Jeffrey Hammond which combined the body
of a recorder, the bell of a toy trumpet and the mouthpiece of a
saxophone. Anderson also claims to have invented the instrument.
Reception:
This Was received generally favourable reviews and sold well upon its
release. Record Mirror thoroughly recommended the album in 1968 for
being "full of excitement and emotion" and described the band as a blues
ensemble "influenced by jazz music" capable of setting "the audience on
fire". Allen Evans of New Musical Express wrote in his review that the
album "sounds good and has a lot of humour about it" and that the band
"play jazz really, in a soft, appealing way, and have a bit of fun on
the side with tone patterns and singing". American critic Robert
Christgau, on the contrary, was appalled by the success of a band that
combined "the worst of Roland Kirk, Arthur Brown, and your nearest G.O.
blues band". Recent reviews of the remastered edition underline the
duality of Anderson and Abrahams' songwriting and stage presence, as
well as the strong ties of the band to blues in their early days. Sid
Smith of BBC Music wrote that "what made Tull stand out from the
great-coated crowd (of touring bands) was the high-visibility of
frontman Ian Anderson's on-stage Tourette's-inspired hyper-gurning and
Mick Abraham's ferocious fretwork". An AllMusic reviewer remarked how
Jethro Tull on their vinyl debut appeared "vaguely reminiscent of the
Graham Bond Organisation only more cohesive, and with greater commercial
sense". David Davies of Record Collector reminds how "This Was only
hints at the depth and majesty of the ensuing seven albums", but also
wrote that "the direct, unfussy and predominantly blues-based" tracks of
the original recordings and the extra tracks of the collector's edition
"could well come as something of a surprise" and "be of the greatest
interest to Tull aficionados". In the documentary film of the Woodstock
Festival, portions of the songs "Beggar's Farm" and "Serenade to a
Cuckoo" may be heard on the PA system, indicating the level of notice
the album achieved in the United States. The album reached number 10 on
the UK Albums Chart and number 62 on the US Billboard 200. It was voted
number 574 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.
(itullians.blogspot.com/2023/10/on-october-25-1968-this-was.html)
01. Never Been To Spain (03:46)
02. My Impersonal Life (04:18)
03. An Old Fashioned Love Song (03:23)
04. Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer (03:42)
05. Jam (03:52)
06. You (03:03)
07. Night In The City (03:17)
08. Murder In My Heart For The Judge (03:39)
09. The Family Of Man (03:33)
10. Intro Poem: Mistakes And Illusions / Peace Of Mind (03:06)
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